WAVE (Waves As Virtual Eyes)

WAVE (Waves As Virtual Eyes) is a project developed in 2009 from Alex Pacini, Stefano Pratiffi, Eric Paoloni and Alessandro Renzi.
It consists in a guide belt for blind people.
It won a participation to FAST 2010 in Milan and, successively, to ESE 2010 in Moscow. It also won the CNA/CAR merit, the Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award and the subscription to ANIPLA (Associazione Nazionale Italiana Per L'Automazione).

The project focuses on the problem of the guidance of temporary or permanent blind people.

The device is realized to locate and notify the user about the presence of obstacles in his path.

This  is possible thanks to the use of two ultrasonic rangers located in the extremities of the central unit, which detect and communicate the presence or absence of obstructions.

The central unit is composed of a micro-controller which coordinates all the device’s peripherals.

The belt communicates with the user through vibrations and acoustic signals, which can vary in intensity and frequency depending on the distance from the obstacle.

To increase the device’s efficiency, the user can also choose between two different maps, the first for an indoor use and the second one for outdoor. This allows the device to adapt itself depending on where it's used.

You can find a paper in Italian HERE, a simple English one HERE and a flyer HERE